Steve Evans, Artemis, vom 18. Juni 2019

Insurance industry losses from the recent severe storms and a hailstorm that struck the Munich area of Germany, are now understood to have exceeded EUR 650 million (US $730m).

Hail stonesAs we explained last week, the Munich area of Germany was hit by a severe storm that caused torrential rain, strong winds and hail stones the size of golf balls and larger, which at the time was said likely to drive insurance and reinsurance market losses in the hundreds of millions of Euros.

Actuaries from Meyerthole Siems Kohlruss (MSK) told us at the time that it could be in the mid-three digit million Euro’s, suggesting something around the EUR 400 to 600 million range in total, but the German Insurance Association (GDV) now says the industry toll from this and other recently occurring storm fronts has already exceeded EUR 650 million.

The hail storm has driven around 250,000 insurance claims, according to the GDV, amounting to EUR 650 million of industry losses.

The GDV explained that it has counted 125,000 automotive claims amounting to EUR 350 million, largely from the hail damage due to the storm.

In addition, 120,000 claims for damage to residential property and contents, as well as commercial and industrial enterprises were seen, amounting to around EUR 300 million. Of this, around EUR 260 million was due to storm and hail damage and EUR 40 million for damage caused by the heavy rainfall.

Economic damages are higher, as not all of the damaged property was fully insured.

“Although three-quarters of all cars are insured against natural hazards damage. By contrast, more than one in two homes in Germany lack protection against heavy rain and high water,” explained GDV Managing Director Bernhard Gause.

The hail storm struck the Munich area on Monday 10th June, bringing rainfall of as much as 10mm in just a matter of 9 minutes, while strong winds reached 118 km/h and hail stones of golf and tennis ball sizes.

The track was just to the west of the main urban center of Munich, which helped to reduce the losses as the insurance and reinsurance toll could have been much higher had this storm tracked through the middle of the city.

Also helping to reduce the loss was the fact it was the Pentecost holiday in Germany, which meant traffic levels were lower and fewer cars were on the streets at the time of the hail storm.

In addition to the hail storm on June 10th, Germany also experienced storm Frank on June 3rd, which hit Lower Saxony and Hesse with heavy rain, hail and lightning strikes. As well as storm Klaus which struck Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Berlin and Brandenburg on 12th June with gusts of wind of up to 120 kilometers per hour.

The preliminary estimate of an EUR 650 million cost to insurance and reinsurance interests covers all of these events, but is likely to rise further with time, making this a relatively severe period of convective style storm weather for Germany to experience.